It is the conviction of the Free Presbyterian Church that the training of its ministers should rest with men who have the necessary academic qualifications as well as experience in church ministry. In addition to the core faculty, other qualified ministers in the denomination occasionally offer special courses within their respective fields of training and interest.
Michael Barrett
Dr. Michael Barrett is the president of GRS and an associate minister of Faith Free Presbyterian Church, Greenville, South Carolina. Raised in a Christian home, he was converted as a child and was called to the Christian ministry early in his college career. By divine providence, he was led to pursue that ministerial call in the field of academics. He earned his doctorate in Old Testament Text with a special focus on Semitic languages. His dissertation was titled “A Methodology for Investigating the Translation Philosophies and Techniques of the Septuagint.” For almost thirty years, he was professor of Ancient Languages and Old Testament Theology and Interpretation at Bob Jones University. He assumed his present position at GRS in the fall of 2000.
Formerly a member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, Dr. Barrett has had an active role in the ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church since its inception in North America. He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and has published numerous articles in both professional and popular journals. His other published works include Beginning at Moses: A Guide to Finding Christ in the Old Testament; Complete in Him: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying the Gospel; God’s Unfailing Purpose: The Message of Daniel; The Beauty of Holiness: A Guide to Biblical Worship; Love Divine and Unfailing: The Gospel According to Hosea; and The Hebrew Handbook.
Dr. Barrett and his wife, Sandra, have two sons, both of whom are actively involved in the work of the church—one as a layman and one as a minister. They currently have five grandchildren. Dr. Barrett’s hobbies include hunting and thinking about hunting
Charles Barrett
Dr. Charles Barrett is professor of Church History and Historical Theology at GRS. He was born into a Christian home where he was under the sound of the gospel and has attended Faith Free Presbyterian Church his entire life. Before his senior year in high school, he came into the assurance of salvation in Christ and yielded his life to the gospel ministry. After receiving an undergraduate degree in Bible, he earned a master’s degree in Theology and a doctorate in Church History. His dissertation focused on the separatist principles of Henry Barrow and John Greenwood, two English Separatists in the sixteenth century. He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society.
Dr. Barrett serves the College and Career Fellowship at Faith Free Presbyterian Church and teaches the college-age Sunday school class. He is assistant camp director of the Free Presbyterian Youth Camp. Dr. Barrett and his wife, Bridget, have one son, Taylor, and one daughter, Sophia. Dr. Barrett’s hobbies are reading about two of the finer subjects in life—theology and sports—and playing golf as often as possible.
John Wagner
Rev. John Wagner is the minister of Covenant Free Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. For almost fourteen years he was the pastor of Orlando FPC until the Lord called him to pioneer a new church in Columbia in the spring of 2002. In the fall of that year he was appointed professor of homiletics at Geneva Reformed Seminary. He has been a member of the Free Presbyterian Church for almost twenty-five years and has served the denomination in a number of capacities including moderator of the standing commission of the presbytery for North America.
Mr. Wagner, who has a bachelor of arts degree in speech from Bob Jones University and a master of divinity degree from Whitefield College of the Bible, has also studied at Westminster Theological Seminary.
Mr. Wagner and his wife, Kim, have seven children—four girls and three boys. Mr. Wagner’s hobbies include desktop publishing.
Mark Allison
Dr. Mark Allison is an adjunct professor of Theology and Pastoral Theology at GRS. He is the minister of Malvern Free Presbyterian Church in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and is the chairman of the Mission Board of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America.
Dr. Allison was saved in high school in Michigan. He moved to Greenville, South Carolina, in 1973 to attend Bob Jones University, eventually earning a B.A. in Bible, an M.A. in Bible, a master of divinity degree, and a Ph.D. in Theology. In Greenville he found a home at Faith Free Presbyterian Church, where he worked with the youth and in various outreach ministries. He served as a deacon and then an elder in the church and became an assistant minister in 1986. From 1986 to 2000 he was academic dean of the Whitefield College of the Bible (later GRS) and lectured in English Bible, Theology, Church History, Apologetics, and Ancient Languages. From 1994 to 2002 he served as director of the Free Presbyterian Youth Camp (USA).
Dr. Allison and his wife, Charlene, have a daughter, Hannah Ruth.
Reginald Kimbro
Rev. Reggie Kimbro is adjunct professor of Biblical Interpretation at GRS. Born to believing parents and born again in his youth, Mr. Kimbro studied at Bob Jones University where he received a B.A. in Bible and an M.A. in Theology. He finished a master of divinity degree at the Whitefield College of the Bible in 1987. In the same year he and his wife, Jan, moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to pioneer Grace Free Presbyterian Church, where he has served as pastor for almost twenty years. Mr. Kimbro has authored a book entitled The Gospel According to Dispensationalism in an attempt to renew interest in historic covenant theology.
Mr. Kimbro is the proud father of three daughters. His hobbies include family camping and backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. He is presently pursuing a Ph.D. in Theology from the Evangelical Theological College of Wales.
David Mook
Rev. David Mook is an adjutant professor at GRS, teaching in the field of practical theology. Mr. Mook did undergraduate and graduate work at Bob Jones University, graduating from there in 1976 with a master of arts in Dramatic Production. He served as a faculty member in the speech department at BJU until 1983, when he entered what is now called Geneva Reformed Seminary. He received his master of divinity degree, was licensed to preach, and moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona, to begin establishing a new congregation for the Free Presbyterian Church. Services began early in 1986 and the congregation was formally constituted by the presbytery in 1995. Mr. Mook has served in a number of capacities in the denomination both as a part of the standing commission of the presbytery for North America and now in the presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America. In 2006 he was elected moderator of the presbytery.
Mr. Mook is married to the former Mary Alice Saylor. The Mooks have one daughter, Carolyn, who lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, Stephen Rohrer, and their daughter, Emma Grace.